Alphabetical SFF

[chrispenycate]

A few more ideas (since I've got the Sci-fi themes, it behoves me to produce with enthusiasm)
Some authors[ James Gunn, Daniel Galouye, Mary Gentle, William Golding.
a couple of characters (no, if I mentioned all the characters with a particular letter, or all the books, that would get silly; just a few that mark [ Ghoul, Gulliver, Charly Gordon (Flowers for Algernon)
A concept googol
two books, with one author in common Gladiator at law, Gateway
And a magazine which, if my memory serves me well, was for a time edited by that same author, when it wasn't Horace Gold: Galaxy science fiction

Oh, and J.D. has an argument: in the very first post on this thread, Cyril, the original perpetrator, put "Arthur C. Clarke" unde the "A"s. I've attempted to maintain surnames as the reference, but one can not be blamed for following the original (if unstated) precepts. Especially when sleep is a distant, fading memory.

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by chrispenycate

Oh, and J.D. has an argument: in the very first post on this thread, Cyril, the original perpetrator, put "Arthur C. Clarke" unde the "A"s.

Yes, but I'm being persnickety.
*covering ears and making atonal annoying noises to avoid hearing J.D.'s and Chris's sensible arguments*

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Brown Rat

Yes, but I'm being persnickety.
*covering ears and making atonal annoying noises to avoid hearing J.D.'s and Chris's sensible arguments*

Sensible? You're expecting sensible now? Some people are just never satisfied!*grin*

Oh, and just to be persnickety -- pernickety is a quite valid variant (Scots). So there! Hmmmp! (we also need a smilie sticking its tongue out at people; I'm so mature....)

[kyektulu]

Gnome,
This humanoid stands at little more than half the height of a human. It usually has a compact, lithe build with dark tanned skin and large bright eyes.
Gnomes are inveterate explorers, tricksters and inventors.
They have a knack for both illusion and alchemy.

Goblin,
This humanoid has a flat face, broad nose, pointed ears, wide mouth and small sharp fangs. It walks upright but its arms drag down almost to its knees.
Many travellers and adventurers consider goblins as little more than a nuisence. However if they are unchecked, their great numbers, rapid reproduction and evil disposition enable them to uver run and destroy civilised areas.

Golem,
Golums are magically created automatons of great power. Constructing one involves the employment of mighty magic and elemental forces.
The animating force for a GOlum is a spirit from the elemental plane of Earth. The process of creating the Golum binds the unwilling spirit to the artificial body and submits to the will of the Golums creator.

Gorgon,
Dusky metallic scales cover this creatures bulll-like body, it has long, sharp silver horns.
Gorgons gaurd thioer territory feircely.
They are fond of rocky areas, especially underground labyrinthes.
A typical Gorgon stands over 6 feet tall at the sholder and measures over 8 feet from snout to tail, it weighs about 4,000 pounds.
Gorgons are nothing if aggresive. They attack intruders on sight, attempting to trample, gore or petrify them. There is no way to calm this furious creature and they are impossible to domesticate.

[j. d. worthington]

Hmmm. Kye, that description of Gorgon sounds suspiciously like a minotaur to me. I'm curious where you came across it -- it may be valid in context, but the original gorgons are: "three monstrous females with huge teeth, brazen claws and snakes for hair, the sight of whom turned beholders to stone" (Bulfinch). Medusa being, of course, the most well-known. (Wasn't Megaera also a Gorgon?)

[kyektulu]

Gray Render,
This hulking biped has the mass of a giant. It has a stooped frame, a grey, hairless body and broad sholders.
Its arms are long and sinewy and its clawed hands drag along the ground as it walks. Its sloped forehead bears six, small yellowish eyes. Its mouth is wide and powerfull looking, filled with sharp black teeth.
Bestial and savage, the Gray Render is a deadly predator found in remote wilderness'.

Griffon,
This beastes body resembles that of a muscular lion, its head and front legs are those of a great eagles and has a pair of large golden wings.
Griffons are powerfull, majestic creatures with the chaarecteristics of both lions and eagles. They hunt all manner of creatures but prefare horse meat abouve all others.
Griffons make thier homes in high places, swooping down with a shrill eagle-like cry to attack prey.
Although they are territorial Griffons are very intelligent, enough to aviod prey and communicate with humans, if they wish to.

Grimlock,
This muscular humanoid is about as tall as a human. It has thick grey scaley skin and blank, eyeless eye sockets.
Grimlocks are native to deep pleaces within the earth but come to the surface to raid for slaves and pillage.
Whilst there, they lurk in mountainous terrain, which hides them well.
They prefare raw, fresh meat, preferably human.

Gaurdinal,
Gaurdians are a celestial race native to the plane of Elysium.
When at home they are amongst the most peacefull of creatures, quick to laugh and slow to anger.
They show a very different face when away from thier home plane, however, they have no tolerance for evil and often roam the cosmos searching for evil beings to eradicate.

[kyektulu]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Hmmm. Kye, that description of Gorgon sounds suspiciously like a minotaur to me. I'm curious where you came across it -- it may be valid in context, but the original gorgons are: "three monstrous females with huge teeth, brazen claws and snakes for hair, the sight of whom turned beholders to stone" (Bulfinch). Medusa being, of course, the most well-known. (Wasn't Megaera also a Gorgon?)

Thats what I thought too!

I got my info from the AD&D monsters manual.

Ps. A minotaur is a half-human, half-bull beasts which walks on 2 legs.

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Hmmm. Kye, that description of Gorgon sounds suspiciously like a minotaur to me. I'm curious where you came across it -- it may be valid in context, but the original gorgons are: "three monstrous females with huge teeth, brazen claws and snakes for hair, the sight of whom turned beholders to stone" (Bulfinch). Medusa being, of course, the most well-known. (Wasn't Megaera also a Gorgon?)

Megaera was, I believe, one of the three furies (didn't look that up, so I can't remember the others Tisophone or something?)

Medusa, Medusa, in days that were olden
did you touch up your snakes, turning copper to golden?

Though snakes through the ages have never gone grey
they do have their problems in a practical way.

they take to the water, they slither when wet,
Did you envy your victims their permanent set?

I'd love to be able to credit this one, but I must have read it when I was about twelve, and while the words have been filed in permanent, theauthor hasn't.

[j. d. worthington]

While Bulfinch, citing classical sources, describes it as "a monster with a bull's body and a human head", I've seen later writers describe it as having a human body and bull's head. I suppose, to be authentic, one would have to go with the original descriptions, but I think the latter is more the commonly-accepted image these days.

I thought that sounded like D&D descriptions (I've read the originals, but not the Advanced, and even that was back around 1978). Thanks for the info.

Now I suppose I'll have to add some to the list:

Gawain, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Round Table, etc.
Galatea: sea nymph
Geoffrey of Monmouth (from whom many tales of Arthur have their origin)
Geryon: three-headed (or three-bodied, depending) winged monster, killed by Hercules
Gibbelins: nasty anthropohagous critters in Dunsany's tale "The Hoard of the Gibbelins"
Grant, Maxwell: House name of Walter Gibson, creator(?) of The Shadow
Giles Angarth: character (artist, poet, writer) from CAS's "The City of the Singing Flame"
Goodman Brown: young, idealistic minister who goes with the Black Man to the sabbat, and forever after loses his trust in his fellows -- "Young Goodman Brown"

Edit: No, Chris, she was a beautiful maiden whose "hair was her chief glory, but as she dared to vie in beauty with Minerva, the goddess deprived her of her charms and changed her beautiful ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a cruel monster of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could behold her without being turned into stone." (Bulfinch, again) The Erinyes were quite a different matter.

As for Medusean poetry, try this on for size:

"As drear and barren as the glooms of Death,
It lies, a windless land of livid dawns,
Nude to a desolate firmament, with hills
That seem the gibbous bones of the mummied Earth,
And plains whose hollow face is rivelled deep
With gullies twisting like a serpent's track.
The leprous touch of Death is on its stones,
Where, for his token visible, the Head
Is throned upon a heap of monstrous rocks
Rough-mounded like some shattered pyramid
In a thwartly cloven hill-ravine, that seems
The unhealing scar of huge Tellurian wars.
Her lethal beauty crowned with twining snakes
That mingle with her hair, the Gorgon reigns.
Her eyes are clouds wherein black lightnings lurk,
Yet, even as men that seek the glance of Life,
The gazers come, where, coiled and serpent swift,
Those levins wait. As round an altar-base
Her victims lie, distorted, blackened forms
Of postured horror smitten into stone --
Time caught in meshes of Eternity --
Drawn back from dust and ruin of the years,
And given to all the future of the world.
The land is claimed of Death: the daylight comes
Half-strangled in the changing webs of cloud
That unseen spiders of bewildered winds
Weave and unweave across the lurid sun
In upper air. Below, no zephyr comes
To break with life the circling spell of doom.
Long vapor-serpents twist about the moon,
And in the windy murkness of the sky,
The guttering stars are wild as candle flames
That near the socket.
Thus the land shall be,
And Death shall wait, throned in Medusa's eyes,
Till in the irremeable webs of night
The sun is snared, and the corroded moon
A dust upon the gulfs, and all the stars
Rotted and fallen like rivets from the sky,
Letting the darkness down upon all things.

That's "Medusa", by Clark Ashton Smith. I've always been particularly impressed with that one, especially that line "Time caught in meshes of Eternity"; but I think it's one of the most powerful depictions of the Medusa I've ever come across.

[kyektulu]

Fantastical Creatures, H.


Half-Celestial,
A celestials magic nature allows it to breed with virtually any creature. Half-Celestials are the results of such unions.
No matter the form, Half-Celestials are alwayscomely and delightful to the senses, having golden skin, sparkling eyes and angelic wings.
Though noble and compassionate Half-Celestials are often dismayed at the evil amongst thier kin and take a stern, sometimes harsh, view of basic instincts or malevolent actions. Never truely fitting into any mortal society Half-Celestials are usually loners and wanderers attempting to right the wrongs wherever they can.

Half-Feind,
A fiend, like Celestial is a magical being and can breed with virtually any creature.
Spawned deep in the dark nether planes, Half-Feinds are abominations that plague mortal creatures, they are taken to the mortal realm by greater Demons who release them there to create havoc and misery.

Halfling,
This humanoid stands about half the height of a normal human. It usually has an athletic build, ruddy skin with dark hair and eyes.
Halflings are cunning resourcefull survivors and oppotunists who can find room for themselves wherever they can.
They may be hardworking, reliable citizens or theives waiting for thier one big chance.

[chrispenycate]

'Twould appear I have been short circuited.
With the increasing rodent poulation. I was introducing the Grey Mouser, which reminded me his inseparable companion, who should have been under the "F"s, Fafhrd, thence to the dwarf Fafnir, then, following my previous post, to the equally missed furies
ERINNYES - THE FURIES

The Erinnyes (also spelled Erinyes) were "the Angry Ones", known as the Furies in Roman. They were the feared avenging goddesses in Greek and Roman mythology who were born from the falling drops of blood of Uranus (Sky) when he was mutilated by his son, the Titan Cronus. The drops fell on Mother Earth (Gaea) and impregnated her.

"...and Cronus cut off his father's genitals and threw them into the sea; and from the drops of the flowing blood were born Furies, to wit, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera."
Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer)

Often they were depicted as repulsive winged female creatures wearing black robes. Other descriptions adorned them with snakes twined in their hair, piercing red eyes dripping blood, pitch-black bodies with bat wings, and even sporting the heads of dogs.

So Meg (not, of course Medusa; though I Knew not her origin, I knew her fate, clearly demonstrating her lack of immortality) was a fury.
Joining in the "H"s
Authors:- Frank Herbert ,Robert Anton Heinlein, Peter Hamilton, Barbara Hambly, Madelene Howard, Joe Haldeman, Fred (and Geoffrey) Hoyle Harry Harrison, Robert E.Howard.

Plot elements ]Hyperspace, hyperdrive, Hyperion, horses, helmets, hobbits, hobgoblins, hover this that and the other, (trains, boots, skates, boards- just about anything but houses can hover, and on the Ringworld, I wouldn’t even accept that limitation) Hogwarts, hero(ine), harpy, hippocentaur, hibernation, harper, healer, human, Hross, hominid, heaven (or hell), humanoid, herbal, heffalump.
Characters :- Honor Harrington, Hamadryad, Hera.

[kyektulu]

Harpy,
This creature looks like an evil faced old woman with the lower body, legs and wings of a reptillian monster.
Its hair is tangled, filthy and covered in blood.
A more malignant and wretched creature than the harpy is hard to imagine.
Taking great glee in causing suffering and death, the sadistic Harpy is always on the look out for new victims.
Harpies like to entrance hapless travlllers with thier magical songs and lead them to unspeakable torments.
Only when a Harpy has finished with its new 'toys' will it releive them of thier suffering, by killing and comsuming them,

Hell Hound,
The creaureresembles a large powerfully built dog with short, rust-red fu, its markings, teeth and tongue are sooty black.
It has red, glowing eyes.
Hell Hounds are aggressive, fire breathing canines from the plane of fire.
Specimens are frequently brought to the material plane to serve evil beings, and many have established indiginous breeding populations.

Hippogriff,
This beast has the torso and hindquarters of a horse and the forelegs, wings and head of a giant eagle.
A typical adult Hippogriff is about 9 feet long, with a wingspan of 20 feet, it weighs around 1,000 pounds.
Hippogriff's are aggressive flying creatures that combine the best features of both horse and eagle. They are voratious ombivores, Hippogriff's will hunt humanoids as readily as any other meal.
These beasts are terrotorial, defending thier preferred hunting and grazing lands with unusual ferocity.
They are intelligent creatures capapble of interacting with humanoids although they rarely do so, preferring a solotary life.

HobGoblin,
This burly humanoidstands about 6.5 foot, it resembles a cross breed between a human and a goblin, although they are completely seperate species.
The Hobgoblin is a larger cousins of the Goblins.
They are far more aggressive and organised than thier smaller relitives and wage a perpetual war with humanoids, particually elves.

[j. d. worthington]

Chris: I owe you an apology; when reading your post, I got somewhat distracted and skipped a line or two accidentally, thus ending up with the confusion anent Megaera/Medusa -- my fault.

And I'm only going to add one H: Nathaniel Hawthorne, on the strength of The Marble Faun, "Young Goodman Brown", "Feathertop", A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales, as well as several others...

[chrispenycate]

No need for apologies; my infallibility is severely fallible, greek mythology is not one of my specialities and I couldn't remember the other two furies- lots of strikes against me. This thread was never intended to be over serious.
Strange, that hobgoblin being so negative; I saw them as descendents of hearth spirits, very domestic, occasionally mischievous but generally helpful.
Anyone remember Zenna Henderson (the people) and I'll sneak in John Beynon Harris (who'll doubtless be back later under his pen name) L Ron Hubbard?

[j. d. worthington]

"L Ron Hubbard?"

So long as we leave out Dianetics and all its fallout. Hubbard wrote some rather good stories back in the pulps -- occasionally very good.

Okay:

Sir Henry Rider Haggard -- She, King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain, The People of the Mist, Wisdom's Daughter, Cleopatra,.....

Leland Hall -- Sinister House

L. P. Hartley -- "A Visitor from Down Under", "The Travelling Grave", etc.

Lafcadio Hearn -- Kwaidan, Fantastics

William Hope Hodgson -- The Boats of the "Glen Carrig", The House on the Borderland, The Ghost Pirates, The Night Land, "The Voice in the Night", and far too many others to mention

E. T. A. Hoffmann -- "The Sandman", "The Cremona Violin", etc.

James Hogg -- "Kilmenny", The Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Oliver Wendell Holmes -- Elsie Venner

Clemence Housman -- "The Werewolf"

Victor Hugo -- Hans of Iceland

C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne -- The Lost Continent

W. F. Harvey -- "The Beast with Five Fingers"

Robert S. Hichens -- "How Love Came to Professor Guildea", "The Return of the Soul"

Patricia Highsmith -- "The Snail Watcher"

And, just so that mine isn't entirely taken up with writers:

Horvendahl -- mysterious immortal running through Cabell's "Biography of the Life of Manuel" (18 vols.)

and Hyperborea -- mythical land originating in Greek legend/geography, later used by many fantasy writers (Howard, CAS, etc.)